Improvement in ticket-clasps



E. M. MITCHELL.

Ticket-clasps.

Patented April 28, 1874.

`N0.15o,25o.

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. in Fig. l of the drawing.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIOE.

E. MASON MITCHELL, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF HIS RIGHT TO WM. F. BOSSERT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN T lCKET-CLASPS.

1Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 150,250, dated April 28, 1874; application lled July 19, 1873.

To afllhfwhom fit may concern:

Be 1t known that I, E. MAsoN MITCHELL,

' of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a Ticket-Clasp for Oommuters Railroad Tickets, of which the following is a specication:

Oom muters railroad-tickets are usually numbered around the edges with the dates of the days of the month for which the ticket is issued. One of these numbers is punched each trip, and in time thev edges of the ticket are rendered very weak, and are liable to be easily torn. The object of this invention is to produce a case or holder which, while it will preserve the ticket from injury, will not interfere with the punching of it by the conductor. To this end it consists in a book-like case, coinposed of two covers hinged together, a clasp for holding the ticket, and a spring to hold the case open when not fastened by a catch, with which it is furnished, wherebyT a neat and sini` ple case for this purpose is obtained.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a perspective view. of the case, representing a ticket in place; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

A and B are the two covers of the case. They are rectangular in form, and are of a size to conveniently hold arailroad commutation-ticket. They are made of sheet metal with bent-over edges and of such relative sizes that when closed they fit one within the other and constitute a shallow box, as it were. Their adjacent edges are bent or clasped round opposite parallel portions of an elongated wire loop or link, a, which hinges them together. One of these parts or covers of the case may contain a time-table of the railroad by which the commuter-s ticket is issued, and the other may have a calender placed in it, as indicated The part A has arranged within it, a short distance from its junction with the part B, a spiral spring, S, which has two portions reversely coiled on V'different sides of the ticket-clasp C, around a wire rod, that unites the two bent-over side Aedges of said part.A The ends of the spring are made fast to the said part A, and a bow which unites the two reversely-coiled portions of the spring crosses the ticket-clasp C and forces it over toward the other part B, so that a tendency is exerted to hold the parts open or away from one another. The ticket-clasp O consists simply of two tongue-like strips of metal, which are pivoted to the springs rod, and embrace the edge of the ticket between them.

On account of the spring being arranged away from the joint between the parts, the clasp in the closing of the case has a rubbing movement over the inside of the part B. To prevent this from injuring the calendar I pivot to the hinge of the case a iiap or strip,d, which intervenes between the calendar and the ticketclasp, and bears the sliding of the latter.

In the part A, near its side edges, two Wires, c c, are fastened. These arebentinward toward one another to form springs, and are bent to form two projectingpin-like portions, ifi, which, when the two parts of the case are closed, project through holes in the part B and retain the case closed. It may be opened by simply pressing the portions 'i z' inward, the spring S forcing the two parts away from one another.

This case can bevery conveniently carried in the pocket, and it will preserve the ticket from injury. It will in nowise interfere with the punching of the ticket by the conductor,

for it exposes its edges whenever open. That I claim as my invention is- The ticket holder, vmade of the clasp C and spring S, connected to the shell A of the case by a rod upon which the clasp swings, in lcombination with the shell B, hinged to A, and forming the other portion of the case, substantially as set forth.

E. MASON MITCHELL. Witnesses:

WM. BossERT, EnwiN H. BROWN. 

